July 15, 2024
Following outgoing prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s failure to secure the trust of the House of Representatives during Friday’s floor test, President Ram Chandra Paudel had invited political parties to form a new government under Article 76 (2) of the constitution on the same evening, setting a Sunday evening deadline for submitting claims at the President’s Office.
Soon after the call from the President, 72-year-old Oli, accompanied by his new coalition partner Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, had reached the President’s Office to stake a claim for the post of prime minister.
With no other contender, Oli had submitted signatures of 166 lawmakers in his support (Congress’ 88 and UML’s 78). In the 275-strong House of Representatives, the minimum number needed to form a government is 138.
Although the President appointed Oli as prime minister on Sunday, his swearing-in has been scheduled for 11 am on Monday. “Due to time constraints, the President’s Office decided to hold the ceremony on Monday,” said an official at the office.
After the oath-taking ceremony, Prime Minister Oli is expected to announce his Cabinet on Monday itself.
As per the July 1 agreement between the Congress and UML that ousted the Dahal-led government, UML chair Oli and Congress chief Deuba, 78, will take turns as prime ministers for 18 months each until the next general elections in 2027.
The two parties had also reached a tentative deal on the division of ministerial portfolios. As per an understanding acknowledged by leaders of both the parties, Congress would head 11 ministries, including home, and UML nine, including finance.
However, according to the leaders of the two parties, as the two parties are considering inducting fringe parties in the new government, some portfolios might be kept vacant for time being.
Thus the Congress and the UML will share 17 ministries (Congress 9, and UML 8) out of 21 ministries, leaving the rest for the fringe parties, says Krishna Poudel, the chief secretary of the Congress Central Office.
The two parties, however, have not disclosed the names of their ministerial nominees.
According to Congress sources, Prakash Man Singh, the party’s former general secretary, will lead the party’s team in the government. He is likely to head either the Ministry for Physical Infrastructure and Transport or the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, whereas Ramesh Lekhak will lead the Ministry for Home Affairs.
Likewise, Arzu Rana Deuba (wife of Congress President Deuba) will lead the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Whereas the portfolios of Ajay Chaurasiya and Teju Lal Chaudhary, the other ministerial nominees, are yet to be confirmed, according to Congress leaders.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the dissident faction of the Congress convened by Shekhar Koirala on Sunday has decided to stake claim to four ministries.
According to leaders of the faction, Chandra Bhandari and Jeevan Pariyar are its likely candidates for ministers. The names of Arjun Narshing KC and Pradip Paudel are also under consideration.
However, KC denies this claim. “Yes, it is true that our group discussed various issues related to the upcoming government, but we have not submitted our demands to the party president to bargain for portfolios,” he told the Post.
Likewise, CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Prithvi Subba Gurung told the Post that Chairman Oli himself will pick the party’s ministers. Subba denied having any knowledge about UML candidates for ministers.
But UML’s Publicity Department chief Rajendra Gautam said that around 32 leaders were vying for the eight ministerial berths allocated to the party. “Due to this, the party has yet to finalise the ministerial nominees,” he said. He expressed hope that the names would be finalised before the oath-taking ceremony.
Party insiders claim that Bishnu Paudel, the party’s vice chair, is likely to be appointed the Minister for Finance.
Though the Congress and the UML have come together to form a ‘national consensus government’, during the first round of Cabinet formation, representatives from the fringe parties are unlikely to be included in the government.
The CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the CPN (Unified Socialist) were the three parties which gave a vote of trust to Prime Minister Dahal during his floor test on Friday, while others voted in opposition.
But none of these smaller parties that voted either for or against Dahal on Friday will participate in the government on Monday, when Prime Minister Oli will announce a small Cabinet soon after taking the oath of office.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party Vice-chair Dhawal Shumsher Rana said that as far as he knows, his party has not discussed power-sharing with the Congress and the UML. Rana’s party has 14 lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
Likewise, according to Abdul Khan, a lawmaker of the Janamat Party, the party has not received an invitation to participate in Monday’s Cabinet formation. CK Raut’s Janamat Party has six seats in the House. It also leads the Madhesh provincial government where the Congress and the UML are its ruling partners.
In the same vein, Upendara Yadav, the chief of Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, told the Post, that his party too had received no such invitation. “It seems like only ministers from the two parties will be included in the Cabinet in the first round.”
Yadav’s party has five seats in the House.
Similarly, the Nagarik Unmukti Party with four seats in Parliament, is unlikely to be included in the government in the first round.
“Out of 21 ministries, 17 will reportedly be set aside for the Congress and the UML. Let’s see if our party will get to choose among the remaining four,” Ranjita Shrestha, the party president, told the Post. “I am the president of the party and I am not aware of any formal call asking us to participate in the government.”